1908 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
8ii 
smothered grass under a plank probably 
never thinks of the plank as an in¬ 
cubus, and when it is removed the un¬ 
accustomed heat of the sun makes it 
wilt, but after a time it revives and 
makes its normal, healthy growth. 
Sarah, after Nahum went, was quite ill 
for several days, then she revived and 
began to look the situation in the face. 
It was not an encouraging or a friendly 
face. 
She thought of a plan of action, but 
at the first it frightened her to think 
of trying to carry it out. She heard 
from Nahum almost daily. The farther 
he got from home the more courage she 
felt about her plan, and by the time he 
reached his destination she determined 
to carry it out. 
Nahum wrote a beautiful letter de¬ 
scribing his journey. He was en¬ 
thusiastic about the country, and wrote 
of his plans at considerable length, but 
near the end ol his letter he said that 
he must have capital. Couldn’t Sarah 
manage to send him some money at 
once? 
Sarah’s eyes fiashed. When she an¬ 
swered the letter she wrote thus: “I am 
surprised that you should ask me to 
send you money. It would seem more 
reasonable to expect you to send me 
some. Just think of the situation for 
a moment, Nahum. I am a woman, left 
with four other mouths to feed, on a 
poor New England farm, with Winter 
coming on. I have practically no 
money, no income, and there is interest 
money to pay, and this year’s taxes. 
How do you expect me to live, much 
less send you money? You have only 
yourself to provide for, you are a man, 
strong and in good health. I shall send 
you no money, even if I can get any, for 
my need is greater than yours.” 
After Sarah had written this letter 
she stood up and threw back her 
shoulders. She drew a deep breath and 
held her head erect. There was an ex¬ 
pression of stern determination in her 
eyes, and no trace of patient resignation 
on her face. If Nahum could have seen 
her at that moment he would not have 
recognized his wife. The incubus was 
removed, and she was fast recovering 
from its effect. 
And now Sarah began to study the 
problem of what to do with the ma¬ 
terial at hand. First there were her 
children to consider. What could she 
expect of them? The oldest, a boy, was 
nearly 15. He was large and strong for 
his age, but he was not over fond of 
work, and he took but little interest in 
school. She would be obliged to take 
him out of school and set him to work. 
It might, after all, be the best thing for 
him. But would she be able to make 
him work? She called the boy and had 
a talk with him. She took him into her 
confidence, and told him what she ex¬ 
pected of him. He was interested at 
once, and also somewhat awed by the 
new air of firmness and determination 
about his mother. The other children, 
a girl of 13 and the twin boys of 11, 
could not be counted on for much help 
as yet, though Ruth was quick and will¬ 
ing about housework. So much for the 
working force. 
As she had told Nahum, they were 
better off this year than ever before 
This meant that they had raised a few 
vegetables for the Winter, that there 
was a good amount of hay in the barn, 
and more stock than usual. “More 
stock,” Sarah said to the boy as they 
took a survey of the farm together, 
“but what stock! Your father, Ralph, 
thought it paid to raise calves, and 
would not listen to me when I told him 
that it did not. So just see what we 
have—one cow, giving perhaps 10 quart? 
of milk, most of which goes to two 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
young calves; there are four yearling 
heifers and one two-year-old; also a 
horse that has seen better days. 
“Now first of all I am going to sell 
those two small calves for veal; they are 
old enough and in good order. That will 
give us all of the cow’s miljc; I am 
going to have you start out with it the 
morning after the calves go, and see if 
you can sell it.” 
Two days later, when the calves had 
gone, Ralph went peddling milk. He 
came back sooner than Sarah had ex¬ 
pected him, with every drop sold. 
“Oh, mother!” cried Ralph with en¬ 
thusiasm that was new to him, “I could 
sell any quantity of milk if I had it. 
Can’t we get hold of some more cows?” 
With the proceeds of the two veal 
calves and one of the yearlings, Sarah 
bought another cow. Ralph sold the 
increased supply of milk without diffi¬ 
culty, and then the other three yearlings 
were sold and stiU another cow bought. 
The two-year-old was kept, as she would 
soon give milk. 
Ralph took a great interest in the 
cows. He paid visits to several success¬ 
ful milkmen and got ideas about care 
and feeding. He groomed the cows till 
they shone, and spread their bedding 
with a lavish hand. He was regular 
about milking time and feeding time, 
and he watered twice a day. His mother 
insisted on his being very neat about 
the milking, and she was particular 
about the cleanliness of the milk things. 
The result of all this was that the cows 
did splendidly, and the customers were 
much pleased with the milk. Their 
potatoes and other vegetables had been 
carefully harvested, and Ralph was 
planning to peddle them, when one day 
he came home with some news. 
“Mother,” he said, “Mr. Sargent, the mill 
owner, is coming to see you. He’s going 
to set four men to work on that lot of 
pines of Mason’s and he wants to know 
if you can board the men. We could 
make some bunks out in the old shop, 
and they could have a fire there.” 
Sarah considered. She could feed the 
men to a great extent on the potatoes, 
beans and other vegetables in the cellar. 
When Mr. Sargent came she had made 
up her mind as to the price she wanted. 
Satisfactory arrangements were made, 
and the four men came. This made her 
work hard, but Ruth helped what she 
could out of school, and Ralph attended 
to the sleeping quarters. The board 
money was quite an increase to their in¬ 
come, and by the middle of January 
they had paid their tax and some other 
small bills, so that they were out of 
debt with the exception of the mortgage. 
After that, every cent that could be 
spared went toward paying the mort¬ 
gage. 
Everyone wondered at the change in 
Ralph. From being a listless, lazy boy 
he had become a bright, alert, business¬ 
like, manly fellow. The secret of the 
change was that Sarah took the boy 
into her confidence; not only that, she 
paid him regular wages. “I can’t pay 
you much,” she told him, “but when 
the mortgage is lifted, I will make it 
more, and if we prosper and you con¬ 
tinue to do well I will give you as good 
wages as any hired man about here 
gets.” 
Time went on. Nahum wrote often. 
He had bought some land, and built 
a house in which he was living His 
hopes were high, and he spoke con¬ 
fidently of the time when he would send 
for the family. Sarah did not go into 
particulars about how she was manag¬ 
ing, and Nahum asked no questions. 
In April Nahum wrote: “The time has 
come for you to pull up stakes and come 
West. I confess that I haven’t done 
quite as well as I expected* still, I 
guess we will get on. We always have. 
So sell the farm for what you can get 
and come out here.” 
In answer Sarah wrote a letter which 
caused Nahum to open his eyes and 
gasp with astonishment. “Dear hus¬ 
band,” she wrote, “I have your last 
letter telling us to sell out and Join 
you in the West. I really cannot think 
for a moment of doing such a thing. I 
have not told you how we have got 
'through the Winter. 1 have waited 
purposely till I could have something 
good to tell. Well, then, we have seven 
cows, and Ralph peddles the milk. The 
Spring work is coming on and there 
is too much for Ralph to do alone, so we 
have hired a man and bought another 
horse. We are paying something every 
month on the mortgage, and it is al¬ 
ready much reduced; that is the only 
debt we have. Now, Nahum, can you 
honestly advise me to leave all this and 
come to you?” 
Nahum read and re-read this letter. 
Not only did the part about the farming 
surprise him above measure, but that 
his wife should have the audacity to re¬ 
fuse doing his bidding was also very 
astonishing. 
For the first time, Nahum began to 
realize the position in which he had 
left his family, and the fact that Sarah 
had managed so well under such ad¬ 
verse circumstances, and without his 
help or even advice, filled him with a 
feeling of bitter humiliation. For the 
first time in his life he began to have 
doubts of himself. He thought of the 
seven cows and of the busy time they 
must be having aX home^ Then he 
gazed about him at the boarded interior 
of his little two-roomed house, and 
homesickness overcame him. 
Nahum never told his wife how he got 
home, and she never asked. He came, 
looking tired and dusty, and bringing 
with him very little luggage and no 
money. Soon after this, the hired man 
was discharged, but otherwise there was 
no change in the farm management. It 
was not generally known, but Sarah was 
really the head of the firm. Nahum al¬ 
ways asked her advice before taking any 
important step. Sarah felt the old 
charm of his personality, and if he had 
chosen to go back to his old ways the 
old patient, resigned expression would 
undoubtedly have come back to her face. 
But Nahum had learned his lesson very 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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39 
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i — CHICAGO .. — 
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A RURAL MAIL BOX 
thoroughly and be never forgot it. 
SUSAN BROWN ROBBINS. 
The joys of the world to come have 
been habitually so pictured by divines 
that the great majority cannot relish 
them, and its pains so that they cannot 
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Whatever be the conditions which 
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high thought and noble purpose. Do not 
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Games 
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Rubber Goods Repaired. 
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TELEPHONES 
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